Camels Hump - Full Moon

The weather wasn't looking so good at 6AM on this day. Raining hard in the valley and windy. The plan was to go up Camels Hump for the full moon. Through an amazing weather turn around it was clear and sunny by the time 6PM rolled around. The trail was packed snow and in great shape (no ice). Nice views of the sun through the trees and the surrounding mountains glowing in the sun as we started up. We got to the clearing in the dark with a little color left in the West. The moon was up and bright as we walked the short distance to the top. Although windy going to the top the top itself wasn't very windy. It was winter again though so we didn't stay very long. The moon was bright enough on the way down to turn off the lights from time to time. Lots of interesting moon views as the clouds moved back in on the way down. A good way to spend Saturday night! My camera didn't work well in the dark so I could not get a decent picture of the moon.

Pictures from Holly and Julie (finally the moon shot):

Week in review

It is April but decidedly mid winter in the mountains still. One big advantage of this time of year is that the sun doesn't set until 7:30. This allows skiing after work. I took advantage of this x-country skiing on Tuesday and "night" skiing on Wed. I am not a fan of night skiing. Limited trails, dark, and cold. On Wed though they ran the lifts from 4-8. It was light almost the entire time with a sunset at the end. All trails were accessible and it was relatively warm. I like that kind of night skiing!
Friday was the first Spring day I have seen this season. Temperatures in the 50's and above freezing over night so it was good right at 9AM. An amazing day. Spring was short lived however and the next day it was below freezing and snowing. More powder in the mountains!
Pictures below are from after work skiing last week. I did find another area x-country skiing at Bolton with some nice open downhills and un-touched powder. That is the first couple of pictures and then more of the usual pictures from the top.

Waterbury reservoir

Whiteface

Adirondack trip:

http://hikingadk.blogspot.com/2015/03/whiteface.html

Huntington->Waitsfield

It has been about 40 and rainy in the valley the last few days. Time to go skiing! Went to Carse road and the first 1/2 mile was dust on crust. I knew there was snow up there since I saw the snow line driving over. Sure enough as soon as I started to go uphill the base turned to good snow and there was about 1 inch of powder on top. As I went up toward Huntington Gap the powder turned to about 3 inches. Prefect for fast uphill and downhill. Went just past Sugarbush North in Waitsfield. You could see Mad River and Sugarbush North through the trees. Great mid-winter conditions. The temperature was about 15 at the start going up to 20 or so.

snow in the neighborhood. The pictures below are taken 30 miles away on the same day.

Poles are not touching the ground

Mad River seen through the trees (lift line)

Spring? No... winter.

Bolton revisited

It was so good on Wed I decided to go back country skiing at Bolton once again after work. When you can get a 3 hour ski in after work in great conditions you really have to do it. This time I brought a camera:

Up Heavenly highway

View South from Heavenly Highway

Stowe view

Out on downhill trails for a little while

Back in the woods

Devils Drop looking back up

Prayer flags - Cliff Hanger

End of the day

When in doubt: GO!!

In the valley yesterday it rained and was about 40 degrees. Last night it went back to below freezing temps and stayed there today. I didn't think the skiing would be good but decided to go anyway. I went to Bolton which starts at 2000 feet and goes up from there. Another world. Instead of rain they got 2-5 inches of new snow on top of a 4+ foot base. Fresh tracks going down Devils drop, Georges gorge, and cliff hanger. Great winter skiing. Got to Bolton at 4PM and got back to the car just before 7:00 as the sun was setting. A pretty long ski with two uphill trips. Being able to do this after work almost makes me want to continue working!

=>Bryant cabin=>Heavenly highway loop=>Devils drop=>Georges Gorge=>Cliff Hanger=>Telemark=>Bryant cabin=>Gardiners lane

Bolton - downhill skiing

I have spent a lot of time in the Bolton area back country skiing but haven't been downhill skiing there with lifts in a long time. It isn't a big mountain but has a lot of good terrain and a variety of woods trails. Also some short steep sections that I didn't know existed (Preacher woods).
A fine way to spend a Monday.

Whiteface Mtn NY

Mansfield